Rivercenter’s Maria Mia, Hays Street Bridge to go before HDRC

The Historic and Design Review Commission meets at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Development & Business Services Center (first floor), 1901 S. Alamo St. Here are the downtown-related items with numbers corresponding to agenda item:

. . .20. Maria Mia at Rivercenter Mall

Rivercenter Mall is expecting Mexican restaurant Maria Mia to finally open in mid- to late-January, mall general manager Chris Oviatt wrote in an e-mail. The lease was signed in the spring for the space last occupied by Brentano’s bookstore. In a previous interview, Oviatt said Rivercenter is changing stripes from suburban-like collection of retail to urban playground for tourists and locals alike. Nola Tropical Winery has opened into a space near the west entrance. But Oviatt has not divulged details over or confirmed rumors over plans for dozens of new tenants, most of which would occupy the former Joske’s building.

But that’s for a later date.

Tomorrow, the issue at hand will be signage for Maria Mia, located on the River Walk under Fogo de Chao at the Commerce Street bridge. Plans call for a handful of signs. In the agenda, the HDRC cites the Unified Development Code (RIO Ordinance Sec. 35-681) which states only one sign is allowed “for each store, shop, restaurant, night club, or place of business in the River Walk area and fronting on the River Walk.”

Therefore Maria Mia owners must choose between river-level lettering on the railing above the restaurant or a 24-by-24 inch light box mounted outside the restaurant.

The commission does not approve of street level signs facing Commerce.

Retired engineer Doug Steadman of the Hays Street Bridge Restoration Group is requesting HDRC’s blessing of its application for the bridge to be included in the National Register of Historic Places. The commission is expected to support the nomination. According the agenda, the application will be considered by the State Board of Review on Jan. 21. View the agenda item for the history of the Hays Street Bridge.